Front cover image for Wittgenstein, human beings and conversation

Wittgenstein, human beings and conversation

David Cockburn (Author)
The papers in this volume can be roughly divided between ?the philosophy of mind? and ?the philosophy of language?. They are, however, united by the idea that this standard philosophical classification stands in the way of clear thinking about many of the core issues. With this, they are united by the idea that the notion of a human being must be central to any philosophical discussion of issues in this area, and by an insistence on an inescapably ethical dimension of any adequate discussion of these issues. None of the papers is well described as ?exegetical?, but most of them are, in one way or another, papers about Wittgenstein, and all of them are discussions of themes central to his later work and strongly influenced by it. While the debt to Wittgenstein is enormous, many of the papers involve significant criticisms of ideas widely drawn from him, and some of these criticisms may have application to Wittgenstein himself.00David Cockburn Is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at University of Wales, Trinity St David. He is the author of books on philosophy of mind and philosophy of time, and of papers on Wittgenstein, philosophy of mind, time, religion, language and ethics
Print Book, English, 2022
Anthem Press, London, 2022
195 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.
9781785279270, 1785279270
1223014711
ebook version :
Preface; Introduction; Part One Human Beings; Chapter One The Mind, the Brain and the Face; Chapter Two Commitment to Persons; Chapter Three Deirdre’s Smile: Names, Faces and ‘the Simple Actuality’ of Another; Chapter Four ‘Only of a Living Human Being’; Chapter Five Responsibility and Necessity; Part Two Wittgenstein; Chapter Six Meaning, Rules and Conversation; Chapter Seven ‘Not Empiricism and Yet Realism’; Chapter Eight ‘In the Beginning Was the Deed’; Chapter Nine Rush Rhees: The Reality of Discourse; Part Three Conversation; Chapter Ten Trust in Conversation; Chapter Eleven Ethics and Language: What We Owe to Speakers; Chapter Twelve A Study of Language in Primates; Bibliography; Index.